The Paths of Warriors
by Shouhda
Summary: Juri seeks to use S.I.N. to bring down Shadaloo once and for all. Though her efforts seem fruitful, Bison's ultimate plan is coming together. The only missing piece he requires is none other than the World Warrior, Ryu. To stop Bison, Juri pursues the legendary fighter and makes sure he doesn't fall into anyone's hands, but hers.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Aftermath

A large room was blanketed in darkness; only advanced hologram monitors on the back wall illuminated the room and the viewer with a soft coloured glow. A slight hum of the ventilation system and the super computer processing the data broke the silence. Not even the bored rocking of the master chair made even the slightest creek.

So boring...she thought as she continued to scan through recent computer files that once belonged to the former CEO of the S.I.N. Corporation. It was then she saw a curious file that read only a name.  
"Ryu...?" She muttered cocking an eyebrow. "Open to main screen."

_Subject: Ryu. Age: 27. Residency: Unknown_

_Subject has been specially selected as the ideal candidate for the BLECE test subject. _  
_Ryu, champion of countless fighting tournaments and has demonstrated an almost unparalleled mastery of chi. The subjects adept ability with channeling this natural energy is what made him the ideal candidate to bring the BLECE project to it's full potential._

_Locating said subject is difficult due to his random movements across the world. His seeking opponents from various lands has led him to be a vagabond. Agent Crimson Viper was once successful in locating Ryu to collect data of his inner power, but once the power surfaced from within the subject, he was impossible to apprehend._

Interesting, the woman thought as her soft lips curled into a smirk.  
"All right, all right, stop. Play whatever video footage you got of his fights." She broke from her slouched position and sat upright intently.

The main monitor began skimming through the many highlight fights of the martial artist. It played the footage when Ryu scarred the chest of the former Street Fighter Champion, Sagat. It was a bloody spectacle, and a sight of wondrous brutality to the eyes of Juri, causing her grin maliciously.

Next was Ryu blasting M. Bison away with a powerful ball of energy followed up by a tremendous uppercut that sent the leader of Shadowloo exploding from his own unstable psycho power.

"Whoa, pause!" She demanded abruptly. "When was that?"

_This footage was taken 4 years ago, shortly before the second World Warriors Tournament Bison held._

"He beat Bison, huh? Why was M. Bison after this Ryu guy?"

_Lord Bison found Ryu to be superior body replacement. He attempted to apprehend Ryu. Agent Juni, proved to be inferior than the subject, and failed._

"Interesting...I heard this guy was in the Tournament Seth held, no doubt that tin can was trying to lure him out again?"

_Affirmative._ _In Seths first personal encounter with Ryu, the subject demonstrated a new form of power different than the Satsui no Hado._

"Is Bison still keeping tabs on Ryu?"

_Our readers indicate that Bison has his surveillance constantly searching for Ryu. The subject is not yet detected from our last connection with the Shadowloo network._

"Do we know where the guy is?"

_Negative._

Rotating her chair away from the monitor, Juri's eye squinted from the sly smile that crept across her face. "Well we best start looking."

* * *

In a dim-lit laboratory the diligent scientists worked frantically as they checked the data they've been receiving. Their pristine lab coats bore the shadaloo badge on their right breast, proudly showing their affiliation with their faction. They punched the keys on their advanced computer systems frantically. Monitors were located all over the room and the sound of computers processing echoed throughout the room.

"Lord Bison is in critical state," The lead scientist said adjusting his goggles as he leaned closer to the monitor showing his masters Vitals. "It seems he was pushing his body to its limits...I warned him his recovery wasn't complete."

The other scientist glanced over at their superior with a worried expression. Saying such things regarding their master was unwise, but they all knew that M. Bison valued Dr. Borskovich's research and knowledge too much to dispose of him so quickly. He was the wisest and most experienced in the facility. He served Shadaloo for two years which was one of the longer periods scientists remained in employment.  
Most of them either get apprehended by the authorities or M. Bison doubts their usefulness and disposes of them. This method assured those under his employment would double their effort, less they live out their usefulness.

The automated doors opened and another younger researcher frantically barged in. "He's here!" Another scientist panted. "Master Bison is arriving in a rough state!"

"I know." Borskovich growled in annoyance. "We've all been fortunate to this point."  
Everyone looked over curiously at the lead scientist who sneered as he stroked his wiry grey beard.

The doors opened up once more and M. Bison emerged through the door way. His strides were strong, but stiff. To the untrained eye he was as strong as ever, but Borskovich knew that Bison was certainly hurting from his last encounter from Seth's tournament.

"Ah, welcome back Lord Bison." Borskovich bowed humbly. "I hear you were successful in eradicating Seth."

"Yes," Bison said as he took a seat on one of the benched by the one test-tube that he was once regenerated in before the most recent tournament. "What is the status of retrieving HIM."

Borskovich grinned. "Balrog has apprehended the boy already." He said confidently. "We're preparing the equipment as we speak."

"Good. And Vega acquired the data from the S.I.N. facility before it's destruction?"

"I thought you'd have a little more faith in me, Lord Bison." A smooth, Spanish accent responded. Dropping down from the ceiling was a slender, but very muscular man, his face was hidden by an ominous white mast. A foot and a half long claw, securely attached to his right forearm, made the individual look even more menacing. As frightening his appearance was, his well kept ponytail and elegant sash and pants gave him a great sense of refinement. How long Vega had been hiding up there or how he got up there undetected in the first place was something that would remain a mystery.

Extending his left had, holding a data disk, he bowed gracefully. "I had thought my time in service to you would have made you the slightest bit more confident in my abilities."

Bison sneered as he took the data disk from Vega's hand. "Perhaps it has."

"N-now we have all the piece!" Borskovich said excitedly. "I will be sure to double my people's efforts to have the equipment ready as soon as humanly possible!"

"Everything is going according to my plan" Bison grinned. "The set back regarding Juri will soon be resolved in due time. But there's still one more thing for you to do Vega."

"Another job so soon?" Vega sighed pulling back his mask. "I hope this plan won't interfere with my scheduled cage match."

"When Balrog returns I want you to track down Ryu. Bring him to me alive."

Vega's face frowned slightly as he silently sighed once more. He and Bison knew that locating Ryu was no trivial task. The wandering vagabond could be anywhere in the world, from the big crowded cities, to the isolated mountaintops.  
"Very well, Lord Bison..." The masked menace replied bitterly, knowing that there was no hope for his cage match now.

* * *

Out in a far off forest a warrior's cries could be heard echoing breaking the hissing of the nearby waterfall.  
"KYAAAAA!" The man roared as he kicked high into the air. From ten feet up in the air he began to descend back to the earth. Regardless as to how high off the ground he was he landed silently and softly back into his fighting stance, ready to continue the series of techniques in the kata .

Each movement he made was crisp, his stances flawless, his mind focused. He's performed the routine of techniques countless times in the past, but it was different today. Never before has the moves come out so naturally and without struggle. Inside himself, he felt an unusual peace that his master had given him after their match after the tournament that was held by the S.I.N. corporation.

Has the Satsui no Hado truly been sealed away inside myself? Ryu wondered. Am I free to push myself as hard as I can without the worry losing control? These thoughts of doubt drifted inside the warrior's head, but would ultimately be stomped out by his faith in his master.

"Tatsumakisempuukyaku!" Ryu exploded into the air, as he performed the technique with ease.

No longer would he have to hold back due to his concern of being consumed by the evil Hado. Now he could fight as hard he could ever desire. Thoughts of recklessness has surfaced in his mind, but his discipline would always get the better of him. For once, Ryu felt truly free.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: Lost and Found**

It came to be that time of year, the anniversary of Gouken's supposed death. For years Ryu always made it a point to return to the grave of Gouken, who taught the warrior what it meant to fight, what it meant to find meaning in battle. Ken would usually meet him to pay his respect to the master as well, but both now knew Gouken was alive and well. The grave wasn't even a ten minute walk away from the old Dojo where Ryu and Ken trained for years as teenagers.  
It was a little strange for the warrior to be visiting the grave of the man who was now known to be alive. Yet for some reason he felt compelled to still follow his annual routine. At the back of his mind Ryu was hoping to see his master at the dojo, but he had a good feeling that his master would probably be wandering somewhere else.

Walking up the trail he admired the beautiful forest that were on both sides of the path and saw the leaves gently fall down. The gentle breeze blowing past the trees added to the sense of tranquility. It wasn't much of a treck before he made it up the hill he saw the entrance gate to the dojo grounds. It was a traditional structure that had the sign of wind, wood, mountain and fire.  
Last year Ryu spent a portion of his funds renovating it, so it was good to see that it was in crisp condition after a whole year.

Ryu continued to make his way towards the dojo itself. It was old, traditional dojo. The tilings on the top of the structure were due for replacement and that's what Ryu was planing on repairing next with his earned fight money. The tiles were chipped and discolored, some even fell off and broke upon hitting the ground. He smiled softly and proceeded to enter the dojo.

The interior seemed completely unchanged, perhaps a bit dusty but otherwise untouched from his last visit. It would seem Ryu was correct in thinking his master wouldn't simply stay at his own dojo. Setting down his duffle bag, Ryu pulled out a crinkled piece of paper and pencil and began scribbling all the replacements he'd need to make and what tools he'd need to replace them.

* * *

In a far off isolated location, a helicopter began to make it's landing in a advanced facility, hidden from the world. Waiting for the aircraft decent stood Vega, his mask shielding his face from the kicked up dirt and wind from the properlers force of the aircraft. His hair blew heavily upon the vehicles landing on the launchpad.

Balrog, opened the helicopter door and hopped out with a boy under his arm. The boy was wearing a flimsy patient outfit from a hospital and had some bandages around his arms and head. With a frightened expression on his face, the boy remained silent in Vega's presence.  
"Welcome back," Vega said coldly. "I see you brought the boy successfully, allow me to say I'm impressed. I thought hideous brutes such as yourself were only good at smashing their heads into things. It would explain the face."

Such comments were typical, but Balrog decided to go through the motions anyway.

"Watch it girly!" He growled. "Or not even that mask will protect your face what I'd do to it."

The two eyed each other down for a moment and both sneered. They knew that they weren't going to fight; not without Bison's permission they wouldn't. Such insubordination was severely punished, and Balrog didn't want to risk losing his earned cash.

As the ruthless boxer walked past Vega to head inside the facility with the boy, the masked ninja looked over his shoulder at the former proffessional boxer. "Once your done dropping the boy off at the labs, we have another job." Vega reported. "We'll have to act fast if we are to get this one done. We're going to have to bring back that Ryu fighter here."

"Hah! yeah right. Let me know when we find him." Balrog laughed. Even the heavyweight boxer knew Bison had to used every resource he had just to locate him last time and was still barely successful.

"Well we did find him. He's at his old masters dojo in Japan, but there's no telling how long he'll be there. I'll have the chopper refueled. Be ready."

Balrog grunted in responded and headed past the automated doors. "I better get paid extra for this..." He grumbled.

"Refuel the helicopter, and load the cargo." Vega commanded the launchpad workers. "I will not have any delay."

The men acknowledged the Spaniard's command and immediately got to work. Vega grinned from behind his mask. I promise you Lord Bison, we will bring Ryu to you...one way or another...

* * *

In the SIN headquarters Juri continued to sit at the monitors and watch Ryu's fights that were caught on film from various sources on the net. They ranged from underground cage fights, to glorified sparring matches in very public events. Wherever the man in the white gi and red bandana went, the results were the same, he was victorious. But after each win, the warrior would just wander off to the next fight skipping any ceremonies if there were any.

Juri's finger lightly glided across her lips back and forth, her eyes focusing on the strange vagabond. Interesting, she thought. He's so interesting... What is he was looking for? What was that strange violent power he displayed when he scarred Sagat, and how was it different from the power that he used to defeat Seth in a single blow?

"Whatever..." She whispered to herself as she leaned back in her master chair. "All this waiting is getting me goosebumps!" Juri was eager to fight this person, she wanted to see how strong he truly was. Why did Seth believe Ryu would perfect the Feng Shui Engine. It could lead to furthering Juri's already formidable eye.

Out from behind her she could hear footsteps approaching her from the entrance of her office. She didn't bother turning around, probably another report about destroying one of Shadowloo's drug dealings, or locating another possible laboratory belonging to Shadowloo.

The individual cleared his voice in hopping he doesn't startle Juri who seemed distracted from watching Ryu's fights. "M-Mistress Juri?" He stuttered. "I have important news to report."

"Spit it out already" She said, in an unimpressed tone. "Make it quick"

"We noticed Shadowloo has sent one of their stealth Helicopters towards Japan. We confirmed that two of Bison's high officers are on board, Vega and Balrog. There's reason to believe that shadowloo may be up to something of great importance to send his two strongest warriors in such a hurry."

Juri sprung from her seat, somersaulting over her large desk and landed behind the informant. The man was startled at how quick she moved, he could barely keep sight of her.  
"Reaaaaally?" She smiled as she snatched the files from his hands and began scanning through it. Her lips went from a soft smile to a menacing grin. "Well get my ride ready! Looks like I have a party to crash."  
Juri shoved the papers back into the guys chest as she quickly turned away and went to exit her office. Her excitement could be detected in her stride, and the smile on her face couldn't be hidden.

She walked past her subordinates who quickly cleared the way and addressed her while standing attention. "Mistress Juri!" They say strongly. She didn't pay them any mind, they were all pawns, nothing more. But so long as they serve her in accomplishing her own fun it doesn't hurt to keep them around. Even though Juri had thousands of men working for her all over the world, she was more of a hands on kind of girl. There was no fun to be had while sitting in the sidelines.

I have a good feeling about this one, she thought to herself.

Ryu arrived back at the dojo after gathering a large amount of supplied from the town. He now had all he needed to make the reparation for the dojo, most of the load were new tiles for the roofing. The warrior entered the dojo and set down the hammer, nails and other tools against the wall. His arms felt a little stiff from carrying the load from the town, and began to stretch a bit.

I guess I could use a bit of a warm up, he thought to himself. Ryu went to the center opening of the dojo and took up his fighting stance. He closed his eyes and began practicing his techniques once again. But his routine was quickly halted, when he sensed something. A chi, a life force, coming from outside. Ryu held his pause in mid punch as he glanced over. Nobody was at the doorway but martial artist knew someone was there in his gut. Ryu decided to inspect outside, but he kept his guard up, for the chi held a sense of hostility.

Once the warrior stepped outside the dojo, a fist came flying out from the side of the entrance. Ryu's instincts kicked in and he naturally dodged the punch, grabbed the arm and threw the person over his shoulder away from the dojo.  
"Uargh!" The rough voice grunted as he landed solidly on the ground. "You'll pay for that you little wimp!" The man was the large black boxer Ryu fought in the second Street Fighter tournament.  
"Balrog!" Ryu called out, his face growing into a frown. "Leave!"

The powerful thug got to his feet and punched his two fists together. "Fat chance Karate kid! You're gonna come with us." He sneered.  
"Us...?" The warrior wondered.  
Ryu then saw a sudden glint of light reflecting from metal coming from above and he quickly moved to evade the attack, but he wasn't fast enough. He felt the cold steel break skin on his left arm as he dashed to the right.  
The masked assailant, dropped down from the roof and looked up at his lucky target. "Looks like first blood is mine! he he he!" Vega chuckled from behind his mask.

Ryu took up his fighting stance, and made sure both his foes stayed in front of him. He remembers agent Chun li's mention her encounter with Vega in the past, and how she barely survived it.

After a brief stand-off the two formidable shadowloo agents began to close in.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: A Struggle and a Spider**

Before Ryu stood two of Bison's most fomidable fighters. The pupil of Gouken knew better than to let either one of them leave his sight, especially Vega. The warrior was aware of Balrog's raw power could knock him out if he layed a solid blow, and Vega's claws could be even more fatal than a punch. This would be a street fight that would push Ryu to his limits.

"He's mine!" Balrog shouted as he charge with a heavy blow. Ryu parried the attack and countered with a solid punch to the boxers solarplex. The blow's sudden power caused Balrog to fall to one knees, and Ryu spun around and knocked him away with a quick tatsumaki kick, trying to knock him into Vega.  
The clawed assailent was much too quick and already sprung into the air and evaded his ally's massive body. Upon Ryu's decent of his attack, the ninja thrusted his claw down at Ryu.  
The world warrior didn't have time to move out of the way, and did his best to block the attack. Vega's blades sliced through the Ryu's red sparring glove, but no real damage was dealt. The japanese fighter tried to retaliate with a kick, but the Spanish ninja evaded his attack with an agile backflip.

By now Balrog was up on his feet again, angrier than ever. "That all you got?" He dashed forward and began took three jabs at Ryu's face. The shotokan fighter easily blocked the three jabs and even blocked the fourth jab that came low. The boxer then caught Ryu off guard and rose up and smashed his head into martial artist's chin.  
Recoiling back from the solid hit, Ryu forced his eyes open in time to see Vega lunging at him, but not soon enough to evade the attack entirely. Another cold sting struck the side of Ryu's right rib. Taking the blow, the street fighter champion grabbed Vega's arm, and swept the ninja's feet. After the masked assailant lost his footing Ryu throw him over his shoulder onto Balrog.

The ansatsuken warrior lept back to get some distance from the two. The way things are going he was going to be in trouble. Ryu knew if Vega kept cutting him up, he would would start to suffer from bloodloss. If he was to win this fight, he'd have to take out one of them with a heavy attack and knock one out of the fight. That way he could focus his attention on the remaining opponent.

"Get off me!" Balrog roared as he shoved Vega off him. When he finished glaring at the ninja he looked back over at Ryu who took up a familiar stance. His hands held close to his side. A soft glow rapidly became a ball of surging energy, being held in his hands.  
"Hadouken!" The japanese fighter shouted as he performed one of his signature moves.

The attack came too quickly for Balrog to react and he was inpacted by the attack in the stomach. "Ugh!"

"Pay attention you ugly brute!" Vega snapped at his shadowloo associate as he focused on Ryu.  
"Shuddup!" The banned boxer retorted as he shrugged it off, his breathing noticeably heavier.

With haste vega rolled forward and thrusted his claw at Ryu; however the ansatsuken warrior side stepped the blade and grabbed onto the ninja's wrist to gain control of the claw. The spanian then received an elbow to the face from Ryu's free arm, cracking vega's mask.

While Ryu was occipied Balrog wasted no time and raced in from and planted a powerful kidney shot on the lone warrior. With the japanese fighter's grip greatly losened and Vega took advantage of the moment and swept Ryu off his feet and rolled away.

"Come on!" Balrog taunted. "I didn't hear no bell!"

The pupil of Gouken got to his feet, his will strong, but his body was acking from the crippling blow. He saw that Vega and Balrog were starting to become more coordinated.

"Wow," A sly voice taunted. "It takes two of Shadaloo's best, and still you can't take him down, huh?"

The three fighters took a glance where the voice was coming from and saw a woman in an unusual outfit casually sitting on the ledge of dojo's roof top. She wore a purple cloth breastplate that just overer the front of her chest that was help by eight straps that wrapped around her torso like spider legs. Her pant legs were loose and resembles chaps but no fabric covered the crotch, instead she had tight pink spandex and purple underwear unusuall dressed woman had a sly look on her face as she eyes the three of them.

Ryu remained silent, and stayed focus on all the people present, uncertain whether the new face was a friend or foe. It was the first thing Gouken taught him...focus.

"It's her..." Vega hissed at Balrog. "Quickly take Ryu. I'll keep her distracted."  
The boxer, looked back at the ninja, and nodded in agreement. He knew that if Juri was able to do half of what he was told, she would be something close to Bison, if not moreso.

"You know," Juri said, her smile widening. "I always thought you guys to be useless, but you did lead me right to Ryu. So I guess there's hope for you two after all."  
"One should not getting too cocky my dear rabbit," Vega said charmingly. "For it is such an ugly thing."  
"Come on up here and tell me that hockey mask."

Vega immidiate leaped up and charged at Juri with his claw. The woman leaned all the way, pressing her back against the tiled rooftop and kicked Vega's claw clean off his wrist. A second leg came out and struck him straight in the gut.  
"Ooughf!"  
She giggled as she got to her feet and began to pace back and forth, swinging her hips sensually from side to side with each step. "Aw..." She said coyly. "You prefer using that claw? Well that's too bad, because I prefer the direct approach."

The masked assailant did his best to catch his breath from the solid kick to his gut that brought him on his knees. Her speed was even greater than his, and she doesn't even seem to be taking the fight seriously. Getting to his feet vega hopped away to regain his claw that stuck higher up on the rooftop. Before he could even take a full two steps Juri got in the way and kicked for vega's face, but Vega did a tactical backflip to evade the attack, barely.  
"Want your little accessory?" She grinned tilting her head menacingly. "You'll have to get through me, Shadaloo swine."  
"Swine!" Vega shouted. "You dare compare my beauty to that of a pig?"

While the two fought on the rooftop, Ryu and Balrog continued to skirmish on the ground. Balrog, continuously bombarded his opponent with what seemed to be an endless flurry of punches. Gouken's student had to think fast, he couldn't keep taking this abuse for too long. Hastily Ryu kicked low, and struck the inner thigh of Balrog, causing the boxer to stumble abruptly.  
Now's my chance, Ryu thought. Suddenly he felt something inside him, a light of some sort. A feeling of fresh air burried in his chest, coming out from inside him. Everything was at peace, yet surging with power. Reacting to this feeling Ryu launched his fist to Balrog's gut so fiercely he lifted the boxer of the ground., "Shin-" With his other arm he drove it high into the American Boxer's chin. "SORYUKEN!" With that Ryu rocketed from the ground and sent his opponent flying thirty feet into the air.

Everything felt so right, pefectly clear, much like the technique he just performed. As the moment past Ryu steadily fell to the earth. After a soft controlled landing, a loud thud could be heard from Balrog crashing back to the ground.

Juri saw the whole thing and let out a whistle. "Hmm hmm Hmm...nice!"  
Vega took advantage of Juri's distraction and flipped over Juri and retrieved his precious claw, reattaching it to his wrist and jumped off the rooftop. The woman shrugged and jumped down after him, "Run while you can" She sneered.

She looked at Vega who took up a defensive position and but he didn't continue to run, even when his partner was down. "Who said anything about running, my little rabbit." he smiled from behind the mask. Reaching behind him Vega pulled out a remote that was tucked in his sash. Be pushed the button and a huge eruption came from the dojo right behind Juri.

Gouken's dojo combusted into pieces in a massive explosion. The force of the blast knocked all the fighters to the ground, covering the area in smoke. Pieces of the dojo rained down from all around, and Juri coughed trying to catch her breath.

Shit! she thought. That bastard is full of tricks!  
It suddenly came to her. "...Ryu...!" Juri got herself to her feet quickly enough, and looked around frantically. Smoke was everywhere, the only thing that was truly evident was the source of the fire which was once the dojo she fought on top of.

Vega and Balrog were nowhere to be in site, neither was Ryu. She hustled over to where she saw gouken's pupil last time. Damnit! she thought to herself. I was having a little too much fun to let that ninja bastard pull that one over me.  
She knew if Bison got ahold of Ryu he'd use him for his experiments, maybe even a replacement body. But what bothered Juri the most was she wouldn't be able to have fun with him herself, to test how good at fighting he really was personally. She continued stumbling through the smoke.

Just when she was sure the world warrior was lost, she saw Ryu on his knees. His eyes wide, staring at the burning structure. The place that had been his home for so long was now a smoldering ruin. One of the few things he always had was now gone.  
His hands trembled as they hung at his side, the fire reflected in his eyes. Juri could see the pain he was feeling, the loss he was experiencing. She remember looking just like he did years ago, when her parents were taken away from her.

She felt something roll into her feet, Ryu's duffle bag. It must have flown out of the dojo from the blast itself and tore through the paper walls. The bag was covered in smoke and a bit of it was still on fire. Juri took one more glance at the Japanese man that seemed to be starting to collect himself.

Ryu saw someone approaching, it was the mysterious woman. She was carrying his duffle bag in one arm she sashayed her way towards him. "Quite the mess they made, huh?" She casually spoke, forcing back a smile. It was best she didn't heckle the grief filled warrior, it wouldn't make him any more coopertive with what she had in mind.

Ryu didn't appreciate how lightly she was taking the situation, but he knew that it wasn't her fault this happened, and did his best to bury his anger for now. If not for her, the fight would have been uncertain as to who would have emerged victorious."Who are you?" He said in a low tone as he got to his feet.

"Your rescuer" She sneered as she tossed the warrior's bag at him, which he caught easily. "But if you have to call me something, you can call me Spider I guess."

The brave warrior's frown increased a bit more from the sound of the name. He hated spiders, it was one of his few fears. But this woman did help him against the Shadowloo goons. Regardless, many quesitons still remained about this woman...this...Spider...


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Dangerous Dealings

The dojo was still ablazed and Ryu stared at the woman, her sensual, strong figure and attire were evidence of her exceptional training. Her loose pants and sparring gloves were remenicent of the Tae Kwan Do fighting style, but her personal peculiar tastes showed from her spiked bracelets. Her hair was done up in two strangely shaped buns that vaguely resembled ox horns. Around her chest was a strange purple breast plate, that snuggly caressed her chest, but left her exposed on the sides.

"Careful there," She smirked as she tilted her head to the side. "Keep staring at me like that, and I might get the wrong idea."

Ryu immediately looked away, when he realized his examination could easily have been misinterpreted. "I appreciate the help, but why did you come here?" The warrior was no fool, he could tell Juri was not of the better sort of people. The way she looked at him sent chills up his spine. It was like a carnivore looking at a juicy steak.

"Lets just say I'm not a big fan of Shadaloo." She said in a soothing tone as she took a step closer to the tense Ryu. She waited for a response from the man, but he remained silent, awaiting for a full explanation. The spider began to slowly circle around the warrior and continued to speak. "I also know that you have had a few run-ins with them in the past."

Ryu reacted to the statement and turned his head in her direction as she slipped to his back. "You do...?"

Juri giggled and delicately reached over, her left hand snaking past the folds of his gi and place her hand on his bare chest. His muscles were hard, warm and twitched to her delicate touch. "I know a lot of things; like the power you hold deep inside yourself. How the Satsui no Hado eats away at you, tormenting you."  
Her hand glided out from his chest as she made her way behind him. Ryu was feeling very uncomfortable with these approaches she's been making with him.  
"That's enough." He said. "Just tell me what you want."

Juri leaned towards Ryu's ear to the point where her lips were not even an inch away. "I want to destroy Shadowloo, but I need you to do it." Her warm breath against his his ear, started making Ryu sweat. Her hand slid down his large tense arms that hung at his side. "What do you say? Shadowloo will answer for what they did today."

"No." Ryu said solidly. "I will not go down the dark path of vengeance. I treaded down there once before, and it leads to nothing but destruction."

Juri steped away. She didn't expect such a straight response so quickly, even after having Gouken's Dojo destroyed just moments before. The Korean woman cocked an eyebrow. "No?" She questioned. "Not even after they just tried to take your life?"

"No." Ryu repeated turning around to face the woman who was speaking to him. "And I will not be swayed."

Juri then sneered and could hear the sirens of the fire engines on their way over. "I don't think you get it." She said cooly leaning loosely to one side. "It's not just you Shadaloo has been hurting."

The world warrior could faintly hear a tone of reflection when she said that. Regardless he crossed his arms. "Nothing has changed because of this." He told her. "I will continued to walk the path of a true warrior."

"Tch!" She spat as turned away and began to head into the woods. The fire engines were getting closer, and she didn't want to be around when the authorities arrive. "Whatever. You'll see what I'm talking about soon enough. Laters!" She waved as she disapeared into the foliage. Leaving Ryu with the oncoming authorities.

* * *

Arriving to the station after receiving an abrupt call agent Chun li marched hastly to the interrogation room where she'd watch from behind the one way glass. Upon entering the small room she saw the one of her colleagues there.

She was one of Interpol's finest. More famously known as Interpol's China girl, she is well known for her beauty, strength and many pursuits against the infamous Shadaloo. She recently heard of Shadaloo activity happening around Tokyo and arrived in the contry a few days ago. It wasn't until half an hour ago where she received a call about an explosion by the mountain side, which got her rushing into the station.

"Ah, so glad you came on such short notice." He greeted.  
It was interpol agent Greyson, a veteran at interpol. He was wearing his usual beige trenchcoat that covered his suspenders holding his pants him. He reminded the Chinese woman of those old detective movies which she teased him on occasion. He was a good cop, but easily manipulated by the powers above; not exatly the most reliable person to work with.

"Another hit by Shadaloo?" She asked, cutting straight to the point.  
"Yeah, they blew up a dojo not too far out of town from Kyoto. They found this person there at the scene when the police and firefighters got there. He insists that it belonged to his master Gouken"

Chun li stepped towards the glass and looked at the man sitting in the chair. It was Ryu. He sat there calmly telling the police officer what happened. The chinese woman listened in carefully on the police officers efforts to extract information from the Japanese fighter.

"I will tell you the events again if I must." Ryu said calmly, burying his frustration inside. "I was attacked by two men named Balrog and Vega. They tried to apprehend me when a woman I have never seen before came and helped me. After I defeated Balrog, an explosion errupted from the dojo and the two made their escape."

"Is that how it really happened?" The cop said snidly. "Just what were you doing there in the first place?"

"Training and repairing the dojo of my master."

Chun li shook her head as to how useless this interrogation was going. "Pull him out of there, let me speak with Ryu."  
"You know him?" Greyson asked looking back at the smaller agent.  
"I thought you'd recognize the World Warrior Champion when you saw him."

Greyson spoke into the mic attached to his lapel. "Alright, that's enough, take a break Jimmy."

The agent inside the interogation room heard the order in his ear piece, and got up from his seat. "Well I don't think you're telling me the whole truth. When I come back you better have your whole story straight."  
After that he left the room. He recognized the famous Interpol China woman Chun li. It wasn't the first time he saw her in person, so he tried to hide his excitement and play it cool. "He's a tough one." The agent told her. "I'm starting to think he's innocent, myself"

"He is." Chun li told him before entering the room giving him a cold look. The young agent was left with a confused look on his face.

Ryu looked up at the arrival of a familiar face. "Chun li," he said softly with enthusiasm.  
"Ryu," She said in a professional tone. "I have no doubt in my mind that shadowloo was behind the incident and that you're a victim, but if I am to let you go I need to know exactly what happened."  
"I told the other officer everything I know."

"You mentioned a woman helped fight against Balrog and Vega. Who was she?"  
Chun li was sharp, she never missed a beat. Addressing the biggest uncertainty to Ryu's story straight away.  
"I don't know, she called herself Spider."

Spider? Chun li thought to herself. She doesn't recall coming across anyone by that alias. This was not enough to go off of. She needed to dig a little more.  
"Was she a strong fighter?"

"Yes," Ryu said with some energy behind his words. "I didn't get a good look, but, I think she was toying with Vega on the rooftop. Her fighting style was Tae Kwan Do I believe."  
Ryu faught countless fighters in his travels and was able of distinguishing the styles of various techniques by a glance.

Chun li paused, and thought about it. The pieces were starting to come together.

"Did her left eye glow at all? Did she possess remarkable chi energy?!" Chun li's voice grew with concern.

Ryu could sense Chun li knew something about his so called rescuer from before. The look in her eyes was of worry, and he didn't want to make her worry further, but he had to tell the truth. "She possessed remarkable chi, more than what I thought to be possible to come from a person." Ryu responded.

The Interpol leaned forward and delicately palmed her face. "Juri Han..."She muttered. "Her name is Juri Han, leader of the S.I.N. Organization. She took over after Seth died a short while ago."  
Ryu raised an eyebrow. "She's afiliated with Seth?"  
"He gave Juri her cybernetic eye which greatly augments her control of Chi energy. It was originally built to artificially create the same effects as the Satsui no Hado."

Ryu's eyes widened. "Artificially create the Satsui no Hado?! Is that possible?"  
The pupil of Gouken knew that anyone could possess the Satsui no Hadou, but only those who desire to become stronger above all else in life. One would have to completely commit everything to achieving power and victory. Earthly possessions, family ties, it would all mean nothing, even the individual's humanity. But to give such destructive power at will to people was something Ryu never even dreamed about, not even in his worst nightmares.

Chun li removed her hand from her face and looked Ryu in the eyes. "Why did she help you Ryu?" She asked.  
"She said that she needed me to help her destroy Shadaloo" He answered. "She spoke of getting revenge for all that Bison has done."

"I doubt that's all she's after." Chun li said. "Everything that gets close to her is killed or destroyed...I wouldn't be surprised if Seth's death was caused by her."

The two world warriors sat at the table in silence for a brief moment. The world warrior was getting the familiar feeling of being mixed up in a larger picture again. All because of the power he held within. Fortunately for him, it'll be different this time. Gouken had sealed the Satsui no Hadou with the power only known as 'Nothingness' the void, something Gouken has not yet taught Ryu or even spoke of it.

Chun reached over and turned off the microphone in between them, leaving Greyson and the other agent in the other room confused. The Japanese warrior slightly tilted his head curiously wondering what his friend was doing.

"Ryu I want you to stay away from her," Chun li whispered softly. "Were it up to me, I'd have you kept under constant supervision, but the higher ups won't let that happen. Shadaloo and S.I.N. can easily influence almost any organization and chain of command. I...I'm worried about you Ryu."

This was a side of Chun li Ryu has not seen. The two of them have always been good friends, but her eyes were full of fear and concern. The pupil of Gouken was hesitant to say anything in response. After the moments pause, Ryu closed his eyes.  
"I will be careful in my travels from now on Chun, I promise." The Japanese warrior spoke softly.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5: A Familiar Challenge**

Ryu spent the night on couch of the hotel room Chun li was staying at. She insisted, believing that leaving Ryu to wander off so soon would be unwise, especially when the place he was staying at was destroyed. The Japanese warrior was too dispirited after losing his master's dojo to argue against her.

The interpole agent was washing up in the shower as the grief stricken Ryu continued to get lost in his own thoughts. Chun li was a little conflicted as to what actions she should take. If she let Ryu travel on his own freely, it'll only be a matter of time before Shadaloo or S.I.N. discovers her friend's location. If she didn't let Ryu continue his travels, he may resist and as talented of a warrior as she is, she has yet to best the World Warrior.

As the hot water sprinkled over her curvacious body, she decided as to which course of action to take. She would try to talk to him as a friend. It wasn't much of a chance he'll listen, and if he doesn't, she'd try to follow Ryu and keep tabs on him the best she can. If Bison or Juri try to make their move on him again, she'd be able to at least try and apprehend the criminals.

Stepping out of the shower Chun li wrap a light blue towel around her waist barely managing to cover herself completely. Leaving the washroom into her room in such an exposed state with Ryu in the room never troubled her. She knew the warrior was an honorable man and never even think to do anything unquestionable. Such a sense of trust in a man is a rare thing for a beautiful woman such as herself.

"Hey Ryu," she said softly as she dried her long brown hair with another towel. "How are you holding up."

The Japanese warrior was found sitting on the couch hunched over as he stared in the center of the floor. His deep thinking caused a delay reaction from Chun li addressing him for a second time.

"Uh...sorry Chun li, I...I guess I'm still getting over it" he said softly as he looked over to see the beautiful Chinese wet woman, only covered in her towel. He stared at the wonderous figure and caught himself and quickly turned away.  
"I am sorry that you lost your master's dojo." She apologized softly. "I never knew how important it was to you."

"It was a place of many fond and valuable memories..."

Chun li thought she'd give Ryu some more time to think as she changed into something a little more appropriate.

Ryu could hear the agents footsteps entering a room farther down the hall. He then glanced over at the phone in the hotel and thought about calling his best friend. After all, it wasn't just Ryu who spent well over a decade training under master Gouken in that structure. Ken Masters deserved to know.

"Chun li," The warrior called to her in the other room. "May I use the phone to make a long distance call?"  
"Sure!" She responded from inside the bedroom.

Ryu punched in Ken's number on the phone. The dial tone began to ring, and it wasn't long until someone picked up the phone. "Hello?" A woman's sweet voice answered.  
"Hello Eliza," He responded poorly masking his depressed tone. "It's me, Ryu"  
"Ryu! How are you doing?"  
"I am fine, is Ken there?"  
"Sure, just one second, he's training outside again. I'll go get him."

* * *

Eliza set the phone down on the table and headed outside of her large mansion. Loud impacts could be heard from the small dojo that was built next to the mansion. If was a near perfect replica of Master's Gouken's dojo. Ken insisted on making it identical when he asked his father to make it all those years ago.

When Eliza stepped in she could see Ken had already gone through two punching bags so far. He was wearing his traditional Red gi, and his hair was a little damp from the sweat of his workout. Each of his techniques were executed with such speed and flare. His moves were almost identical to that of Ryu's if not for the bit of style and creativity he added to him himself, but the power and focus behind them faltered in comparison to Ryu.

"Ken! Honey!" She called out over the sounds of Kens rapid kicks hitting the bag.  
The martial artist paused in mid kick and looked over. "Huh? What was that babe?" He asked.  
"Ryu is on the phone, he asked for you."  
"Yeah? I wonder what he's up to"

Eliza followed Ken out of the dojo and the two made their way towards the mansion.  
"Ryu sounded kind of down." Mrs. Masters said looking down at the ground.  
"Hmmm...it's not like him to call over the phone. Usually he's a little more old fashion at sending letters or coming personally." Ken said in response as he put his arm around his beautiful wife. "I'm sure everything will be fine."

They entered the mansion and Ken picked up the nearest phone. "Hey, Ryu?"  
"Hey Ken," Ryu greeted. "I'm sorry for disrupting your training."  
"Don't worry about it man. So what's up? Everything okay?"  
"The master's dojo has been destroyed."  
"Wai-What?! What happened?!"  
"Shadaloo attacked me at the dojo. Vega and Balrog blew it up to make their escape."  
"Those bastards...!"

Ken recalls what Shadaloo is capable of with his own personal encounters with them. Ryu was once brainwashed by M. Bison, but was strong enough to break free, barely. It was a tough encounter from years ago. The next encounter in the second world warrior tournament, Ken had to fight Vega, another one of Shadaloo's blood thirsty soldiers. The battle almost cost Ken his life.  
Whatever the reason they tried to apprehend Ryu it wasn't good, and Ken was worried. He knew that his best friend usually took it on himself to handle these types of situation and seldomly asked for help. "You going to be okay?" is all Ken could think to ask.  
"I think so..." Ryu said looking down to the carpet floor. "...I am just frustrated at myself."

"Ryu," Ken called out. "Don't beat yourself up over it. It wasn't your fault."  
"Yeah..." The Japanese friend sighed.

The American martial arts champion thought that it'd be best to put down the current discussion and bring up another to better lift his friends spirit. "Say Ryu," Masters said. "You haven't seen my son yet, come over and see him. I'll have a ticket ready for you"

Ryu's eyes widened. That's right! the warrior thought to himself. Eliza was heavily pregnant last I heard. The Japanese man wasn't too experienced on the topic of children and babies, so he hesitantly asked. "W-whats the child's name?"  
"Mel," Ken said happily. "Mel Masters. And guess who's going to be his Godfather?"  
"Guile?"  
"No! Eliza would kill me! You!"

Ryu was already feeling better speaking to his best friend, and a soft smile went over his face. "Okay." Ryu answered.  
"Alright! I'll have a ticket ready for you for a flight tomorrow. We'll see if we can finished settle the score between us. I look forward to seeing how much you've improved!" Masters said excitedly.  
"I look forward to seeing your progression as well, Ken."

Ryu hung up the phone and stared down at it fondly. That call was just the therapy he need at that moment. It was a rare gift Ken had to crack through Ryu's hard shell and get through to him.

"How is Ken doing?" Chun li asked in stepping out of her room wearing a light blue night blouse that hardly managed to reach below her waist. The fabric was made of a sleek silk that glistened when the light hit the surface just right. She looked stunning in it.

Ryu did his best to keep his eyes locked in on hers and to not let them wonder instinctively. "Ken is doing well. He invited me to see his newborn son."  
"That's wonderful!" Chun li said excitedly. "When are you leaving to America?"  
"Tomorrow."  
"Wow, I guess it's nice to have a rich friend, huh?"  
"I've given up trying get him to let me pay for my own tickets a while ago."

Silence fell between the two and they found themselves staring at each other. Ryu's eyes started to wonder, but he caught himself and turned away.  
Chun li noticed what happened and blushed a bit. Ryu was an honorable man, but he was still a man. She reached over and gently place her hand on his muscular arm. "It's really good to see you again Ryu. Good Night."

* * *

Back in the Shadaloo facility a helicopter landed on the helipad. Stepping out from the aircraft was a beaten Vega and Balrog, bearing the bruises and cuts from their previous encounter in Japan. They had a distasteful look on their faces and stayed quiet. Reporting failure to Lord Bison was never a fun thing to do.

Entering past the advanced automated doors the boxer and the ninja made their way into the facility. The soldiers patrolling the halls stood at attention upon their passing silently. Bison's quarters were in the deepest parts of the facility. If the two warriors of Shadaloo didn't know their way around the complex as well as they did, they'd have take an abundant of wrong turns through the complex structure.

It was then a soldier hustled towards Vega and Balrog. He saluted the two and began to make his announcement. "Lord Vega, Lord Balrog. Master Bison wishes you two to meet in lab 6 immediately."

The two exceptional fighters didn't like receiving orders from a little grunt like him, but they had better walk on eggshells for now since they failed to apprehend Ryu. Vega and Balrog glanced at each other and made their way to laboratory 6. It was only a little farther down the corridor and the automated door to the room opened.

Entering the room they saw the boy Balrog brought in strapped to a large machine. Psycho energy was being released from the contraption in abundance. The whole room was being lit with this negative force. They were so distracted they didn't see their master standing with the scientist with a menacing grin.

"Excellent!" Bison said excitedly. "With this child and his psycho essence attached to this machine, the psycho drive's power with amplify further, and multiply my own power!"

The boy looked as if he was writhing in pain. It was most probable that his screams could've be heard if it wasn't for the mouth piece that covered his face. Vega smiled from the beautiful spectacle of the dancing lights of the psycho energy. Balrog simply stared at the boy and shrugged, not understanding what's going on.

Bison turned to his subordinates. "You two have failed me." He said, his smile fading. "Had you acquire Ryu, my plan would have been complete!"

"Juri intervened, Lord Bison." Vega announced, still hiding behind his mask. "She must have followed us. To make things worse, Ryu has grown even stronger it seems."  
"I do not see Ryu increasing in strength as a problem, but as a benefit. For his body will soon be mine, which will drastically augment my power to limitless potential! Now if you two cannot complete your mission then perhaps I should find means of replacing you both."  
"What about that wench, Juri," Balrog said. "She beat the pants off Vega without breaking a sweat. How can we get close to her when YOU couldn't even beat her."

Bison turned to face the machine. "Because now I have the boy! The sole purpose of his creation is to amplify the psycho drive with his own spiritual energy. I already feel my power stronger than ever before. Prepare to move in on Ryu, and if Juri tries to get in my way, I will crush her myself!"


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6: Unsafe Departure**

In a clean empty hotel room, all was silent, and darkness filled the room. The only light that managed to creep in was that of the morning lights of Tokyo outside, but even that was obstructed by someone straddling a chair in front of the window.

Juri sat in her chair leaning forward, practically pressed against the glass with a pair of technologically advanced binoculars. She's been keeping watch over Ryu ever since she left him at his burning dojo. She wouldn't dare leave her prize for him to simply vanish into the vast world. Especially when things were getting interesting.  
Interpol's China girl let Ryu stay in her hotel room, which was smart on her part. The Tae kwan do master had not seen Chun li since her last skirmish with her and Cammy duing the Tournament Seth held a short while ago. She was always fun to beat on, especially since she keeps coming back for more.

"Hmmm." She thought to herself. "I thought for sure something would happen between the two...tsk...so boring."

This kind of tedious waiting was really starting to get under Juri's skin. She hated waiting around, and wanted to go out and do something. It was then her cell phone rang. Lowering the binoculars she answered the phone. "Hey, what is it?" She said, knowing that it was her secretary from S.I.N.  
"Mistress Juri," He addressed. "We have located another Shadaloo facility located in Mexico."  
"Have you mobilized the forces?"  
"Indeed they are ready to go at your order. But I felt I should warn you. This facility is extremely fortified and security has heightened substantially since the last three Shadaloo facilities S.I.N. destroyed."  
"I don't give a damn! Just burn that place to the ground! Leave no Shadaloo dogs alive!"  
"Y-yes mistress."

Juri hung up and looked back through the binoculars. There was movement in Chun li's hotel room, it was Ryu. He was doing his morning exercises, push ups using only his thumbs. The world warrior was going at it like a machine, and Juri eventually lost count how many he lifted himself. After the push ups he started to do some crunches which he did with seemingly equal ease.

In the other building, Ryu came near the end of his work out when Chun li came out of her room wearing her pajamas. She was brushing her teeth when she saw Ryu throwing some punches and kicks in the room.  
"Hey!" She called out trying to not let the tooth past escape her mouth. "Noh' in dah wroom!"

Ryu paused and turned to her. "Oh...sorry." He apologized as he abandoned his fighting stance.

Chun li noticed the sweat from his muscular body. The beads of sweat cascading down his desirable muscles. It was was the first time she saw him without his gi and bandana. Her eyes began to scan all the crevices of his body, admiring every detail.

"Chun li," He addressed politely. "You're toothpaste...it's...um..."

The Chinese woman suddenly came to her senses and noticed her toothpaste was dripping down her chin and onto the floor. "Ah!" She squeaked as she held up her hand to cover her face as she turned away. "Y-yu shud take a showah! you got a plane tu catch, wight?"

"Yes, you're right" Ryu then made his way to the washroom and locked the door. dropped his pants and trousers and hopped in the shower.

It was then Chun li realized she was still brushing her teeth and now the bathroom was occupied. Dammit! She thought. She let out a sigh and decided to use the kitchen sink.

When the two friends finished getting ready for the day they checked out of the hotel and stood in front of the building.  
"Well I best be on my way." Ryu turned back and smiled at his friend.  
"Yeah..." Chun li let out a small smile. "I suppose we can always have our sparring match another time."  
"That would be nice. I can only imagine how impressive your kicks have become."

Just as the world warrior turned away the Interpol agent called out to him one last time. "Ryu...be careful..."  
He nodded to her and began to make his way towards the Tokyo airport. Chun li continued to watch him turn a corner at the end of the block and immediately began to pursue him discretely.

There's no way I'd let Ryu roam around when I know Shadaloo is after him, the agent thought to herself. If Bison makes his move against him it would be the best way to take him down. I'm sorry for using you like this Ryu...

Just on the rooftops overhead Juri was spying on Chun li. "Well aren't you just a sneaky little China girl?" She chuckled to herself. It would make things difficult for Juri if the Interpol agent kept tabs on Ryu through his journey.  
Looks like it'll be time for some fun after all! The leader of S.I.N. grinned. All that waiting last night was driving me crazy! I could use a little workout.

Juri followed the agent who was stalking the vagabond. It was an elaborate game of follow the leader. She was just waiting for the right opportunity to get Chun li away from Ryu. And then the opportunity presented itself. A large mass of people began crossing the street towards Ryu. The renown fighter disappeared into the ruckus of people.

The S.I.N. owner sneered as she saw Chun li struggle to even keep her eyes on the man with a tattered gi from where she was hiding. This was the opportunity Juri had been waiting for to intercept Chun li. She hastily leaped off the building towards the emergency fire exit stair case. She grasped onto the railing swung down and diligently descended. Her decent resembled that of a spider spinning down her web, it's limbs flailing purposefully as it clung onto every surface.  
Coming close to the bottom she landed with a loud 'thud' intentionally so the Interpol Agent could hear her. And if that didn't catch her attention, she casually called out. "Hey there officer!"

Chun li turned away from Ryu recognizing that sadistic voice. Her eyes widened to see Juri standing there in her regular combat garb. The Chinese woman quickly threw off her over coat and got in her fighting stance in a single swift motion. "I Knew if I followed Ryu you'd show up soon enough"

"Bet you didn't think it'd be so soon, huh?" Juri sneered as she casually walked away, deeper into the alleyway. She knew Chun li would pursue, it's simply what cops do; chase the bad guys. To that point Juri sighed in disappointment as she heard the agents pursuit through the alleyway.

Chun li cautiously turned around the corner but when she did, Juri was no where to be in sight.  
What? Where did she go? The Chinese woman wondered as she hastily scanned around the area. The alleyway was old, filled with litter and crannies. It was obviously not well kept, and must be a usual hangout for some, judging from the many smashed beer bottles and cigarette remnants.  
The only thing that could be heard was the traffic in the streets, and the bustling of the city life. It seems Juri has vanished once again. The Interpol agent sighed, but knew she had to get back on track after Ryu. If she loses sight of him it'd be hell tracking him down a second time.

Just as Chun Li turned around to leave the alleyway a solid kick was scored to her chin. "Surprise!" Juri laughed menacingly. The force of the kick lifted Chun Li off the ground and everything became a blur for Interpol's China-girl.  
As the famed agent was suspended into the air Juri quickly pivoted around and delivered a powerful thrust kick empowered with strange purple energy that was powered by the Feng Shui Engine. The blow winded Chun li before she had a chance to cry in pain, even as she crashed into the rusty dumpster.  
"Eyes on me sweetie." Juri taunted as she pointed to her left eye. " 'Cause if you don't pay attention, you're gonna get more than seriously hurt."

Chun li fell forward but caught herself. Her vision was blurry and she still struggled to force air back into her lungs. "W-w-..." She couldn't speak. But somehow managed to get to her feet.

"W-w-wha?" Juri mimicked mockingly holding her hand to her ear as she leaned forward.  
Angered, Chun li successfully took a deep breath "What do you want with Ryu?!"  
"Aw, why spoil the surprise?"

It was dangerous to fight Juri with so many people around them, then again, it was dangerous to fight Juri at all. There was little other choice for the authority figure, and she took up her traditional Kung Fu fighting stance. "You're not getting away this time!" Chun li stated in a strong tone.

Juri smiled as she shifted her weight to one leg, popping her hip out and gestured her finger to taunt the agent over. She chuckled when she saw the flare of anger in the Chinese woman expression.

"Kikoken!" Chun li exploded as she thrust one hand forward unleashing a ball of chi energy. The Korean martial artist anticipated the attack and with amazing speed slipped under the projectile, stopping right in front of her opponent in a low crouching stance.  
Juri laughed as punched Chun li lightly in the gut, causing the Kung Fu master to flinch, followed by a much heavier elbow to the solarplex, and finished it off by kicking both her legs out in a circular motion, powered by the Feng Shui engine. Her signature pinwheel move was performed flawlessly and knocked Chun li screaming as she was slammed back into the dumpster.

"Oh come on!" Juri said in a slightly angered tone. "Fighting you is fun and all, and your screams are amusing, but I got someone to keep an eye on right now. Since you can't keep this interesting, I'll finish this."

Chun li could hear the foot steps of the cruel woman casually walking towards her. "Yaaaaah!" Summing up all her strength, The Interpol agent sprung up unexpectedly and unleashed and powerful spinning bird kick striking Juri in the legs, then the side, and then her head and sent the Korean woman flying back.

Juri quickly caught herself and managed to land on her feet. "You bitch!" She shouted, the side of her face hurting from the multiple kicks that connected. She could then taste blood in her mouth from her cut lip. "Now you're gonna get it!"  
The Feng Shui engine in the Tae kwan do warrior's left eye began to glow. The chi energy began to surround the hostile figure and Juri's frown grew into a menacing grin. The garbage and little began being blown away from the sheer force of her unnatural chi, abandoned newspaper violently too to the air, crushed pop cans skittering down the alleyway, broken bits of glass bottles rolling away.

Chun li prepared herself the best she could, as she shifted over to a more defensive stance. The agent wasn't even certain if she would be able to defend herself from the anticipated assault. She remember hearing her blasting Guile away and blowing up his jet in a single kick.

In an instant Juri was standing no more than a foot away from Chun li, it was as if she teleported. The abrupt speed left the Chinese warrior startled, but managed to regain her composure just in time to block a barrage of kicks that came at a phenomenal speed. High, low, high, high, Chun li said in her head, as she continued to defend herself from the relentless assault.  
Her arms and legs were going numb from the abuse she was taking. Chun li's movements were getting more sloppy and sluggish from the pain. Juri changed the tempo and instead of a kick, she leaped towards the Chinese warrior, throwing off the rythm. The unexpected knee strike connected brutally connected to Chun li's chin. the sheer force lifted the agent off the ground. Juri then pivoted in the air and with the other leg, delivered a powerful thrust kick to her stomach sending her crashing into the alleyway wall.

Slamming into the brick wall, Chun li slowly slid down the solid surface, barely conscious. Everything was spinning, her fingers felt fuzzy, air refused to fill her lungs. She managed to open her eyes enough to see the hazy figure of her attacker. The last thing the Chinese warrior saw was the cruel grin of Juri's face before a thrust kick knocked the Interpol agents head into the solid gritty wall.

The fight was over, Chun li was defeated, bloodied and battered. Juri tilted her head as she looked down at the woman who was defeated by her for a third time and barely alive once more.  
Killing her would be fun... The CEO of S.I.N. thought. But leaving her alive makes things more interesting to me. I was really hoping she'd gotten much better than this...sigh...maybe I'm expecting a little too much from my dear China-girl.  
Raising her arms behind her head in a relaxed position, Juri turned away and casually made her way out of the alley. She knew that she simply has to make it to the Tokyo airport quickly to catch Ryu there. She'll be able to deduce where Ryu was off to from there.

* * *

It took a few hours but the World Warrior champion made it to the airport on foot. The airport was huge, and traffic around the place was busy. A constant flow of people walking in and out of the grand structure, busy to reach their destinations. As busy as they were, many of them would turn and glance over at the strange man in the sleeveless Karate gi and red headband.

Upon entering the structure, the martial arts vagabond could hear hi name being called. It was a man holding a sign with his name on it. The man was well dressed in a suit and had shades covering his eyes. From the look of him he was American.

"You must be Mr. Masters' friend Ryu." He said politely tucking the sign under his arm as he approached the warrior.  
"Yes," Ryu nodded. "I'm Ken's friend."  
"Wonderful, Ken has arranged a charter flight for you on his personal jet."  
"I see."

This kind of behavior from Ken was not all that surprising. His best friend always did get excited and impatient when the two of them were going to get together. As much as Ryu wasn't too big on special treatment like this, it did cheer him up in knowing that even though Gouken's dojo was destroyed, not everything has changed.

"Allow me to take you to your flight." The man smiled as he lead the way to Ken's jet. Ryu nodded and followed.

Not too far away a man was sitting down at one of the reading a news paper, but his eyes were on Ryu the whole time. He pulled out his phone and made a call. "He's here." He said softly. "A man is leading him past the security. I think it's a charter flight."  
"I know that!" A moody voice snapped back through the phone. "I got here half an hour ago."  
"Y-yes mistress Juri..."

On the roof of the airport structure Juri casually sat on the ledge with one leg dangling of the side of the building. In one hand she was holding a set of binoculars, in the other she was holding her cell phone. She could see Ryu and a man in a suit walking towards a specific aircraft and she zoomed in on the fancy looking jet. Along the back end, it read 'MASTERS'.

Lowering her binoculars she smiled. "Well now," She said to her herself. "Guess I'm going to America." Getting to her feet and turning away from the ledge of the building she spoke into her phone. "Make the preparations pronto. Make sure you got a couple guys there waiting at close to the Masters estate too. I don't think we're the only ones who are going to catch on to this."

Juri stared down at the world warrior for a moment and raised her binoculars. She carefully examined his muscular figure, his hardened eyes, his battle-worn gi. Her soft smile widened as she watched the world warrior proceed onto the aircraft. A sense of excitement seems to creep up Juri's spine every time she looks at him. Soon...she thought to herself. "See you in America Ryu." She said in a playful tone.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7: Spinning Webs**

"Ryu has been spotted" A Shadaloo operative called out as he does a swift key stroke. The monitor zooms in to show Ryu boarding a personal jet. The large screen illuminated the facility chamber, where many Shadaloo operatives were busy at work.  
In the center of the chamber, sitting in a technologically advanced throne was none other than Bison. The evil master eyed in on the ownership of the plane. " 'MASTERS' eh?"

"Yes my lord," The operative confirmed. "Our satellites are locked onto the aircraft location. He'll be in the USA airspace in an hour."

"Good!" Bison, said in a booming voice. "Unfortunately we'll have to disappoint Mr. Master and deny his reunion with his friend. Have some men there to greet Ryu in the Chicago's city limits! I think it's time I end this myself."

Suddenly Dr. Borskovich came running to Bison in a panic. "Master Bison, I have urgent news!" He said in a nervous tone. A grumble and sigh of frustration came from his lord in response.  
"Speak!" He commanded, his white eyes barely peering through the his militaristic hat.  
Our laboratory in Mexico is under heavy attack from S.I.N. forces. Both sides are losing great casualties, but we will soon be overwhelmed, sir!"  
"Mexico?! I thought we bolstered our defenses there!"  
"We did sir, but S.I.N. simply sent more...! They're coming at us with a vengeance. And if they should take the facility, they may learn of the boy! It was the facility where we created him..."

Bison's hands gripped the metallic arm of his chair tightly as psycho energy began to form around him. As he gritted his teeth, his eyes began to glow red.  
Juri, he thought. You are so determined for vengeance, you're willing to bring your own company into the ground doing it! You foolish, reckless girl! If they find out about the boy, it could possibly ruin everything!

"Change of plan!" Bison stated loudly. "I will be going to Mexico myself. It is time to show that foolish woman what it means to start a war...and to suffer casualties!"

"What of Ryu sir?" The subordinate at the monitor requested.  
"Have our men in the surrounding areas keep close tabs on him, apprehend him if possible. I had already sent Balrog to Las Vegas, yes? Get him over to Chicago within the hour." Bison's stream of commands run clear, and the men saluted him as Bison rose from his seat and left the bridge.

* * *

In a small office in military base, a man sat down looking over documents of past Shadaloo activities. After looking through the last page, he placed the document aside. Letting out a sigh he looked over at the end of his desk and looked at a couple framed photos.  
The first was of his wife and daughter smiling. They were both so beautiful, and it pained him that he has to be away from them so frequently. Serving as a reminder as to why it had to be this way, was a photo of him and his best friend, Charlie Nash. Not a day went by when he thought about his disappearance and whom was responsible. There has been numerous times where Guile went looking for his dear friend. It took years to finally accept the loss of his friend. Now he driven by vengeance, to take down Shadaloo for all they have done.

Guiles thoughts were abruptly interrupted by the phone on his desk ringing. He glanced over and noticed it was a long distance number. Picking it up he held it to his ear. "Hello, Captain Guile speaking" He said strongly.  
"Long time no hear Guile." A familiar British accent said. The American military officer knew the voice all too well.  
"Well this is a surprise. What's got you calling me, Cammy?"  
"Is the line clear?"  
"Yes."

Guile, Chun li and Cammy have all worked very closely together for the past two years. They've gotten in the habit of encrypting their calls and checking for bugs so that their currupted juristictions couldn't find out what they were up to. The fingers of Shadaloo and S.I.N. reached every faction in every country. So the three had little choice but to form their own group with the three of them.

"Chun li is hurt. She's been hospitalized." Cammy said, getting straight to the point.  
"What?!" Guile shot up from his chair.  
"They found her crawling out of an alleyway in Tokyo, she serious intense injuries. Fortunately they got her to a hospital and stabilized her. They said she should make a full recovery in a month."

Guile sat back down in his chair in relief. He paused for a moment and leaned forward on his desk. The worst of his worries was over. But now he needed answers. "Was it Shadaloo? S.I.N.?" He inquired.

"I am not sure. I did some investigating and I managed to find out that she was in the city investigating a Shadaloo attack on a dojo." The British MI6 agent began to explain." They brought a man for her to interrogate. Ryu. Apparently they tried to abduct him but failed. After that I wouldn't be surprised if Chun li approached him, maybe even followed him expecting Shadaloo to make another move."

"Bison is still after Ryu after all this time?" Guile asked. "What does he want from him?"  
"Remember, Seth was after him for the BLECE project. I wouldn't be surprised if Bison would be after something similar from him."

Cammy's detective abilities has always been top notch. In the past she was always able to get to the bottom of conspiracies created by the evil organizations. Her intellect and response time was always an important asset to the team, though it often times gets her into a lot of danger.  
"Ryu is on his way to America," Cammy informed. "Apparently he hopped onto a chartered flight owned by the MASTERS Corporation, probably to see Ken, your brother in law. I wouldn't put it past Shadaloo to make another move."

Guile knew all too well what this meant. "I'm on my way."

* * *

Ryu's flight was uneventful, but he did always enjoy the view of the landscapes from up in the air. Descending from the plane steps holding only his duffel bag, the warrior was grateful to have his feed on solid ground again. It always gave him a sense of control to not be in a vehicle. Walking through the airport he made his way past a skirmish of people racing around with luggage.

It was then at that moment Ryu felt something in the air, a sense of hostility, attack even. On instinct Ryu let go of the rope on his luggage and pivoted on his back foot. He raised his left arm just in time to stop a kick. The impact was strong, fierce, and familiar.

"Hey Ken!" Ryu smiled, remaining in his stance.

In front of him was a blond haired handsome warrior. He was wearing a white business shirt and red tie, followe with a pair of dark grey slacks. He looked liked the rich billionaire he was. The confident green of his face grew wider. "I can see you're still on top of your game!"

Ryu smiled. "Yeah, I don't think the master would approve if I..."  
Mentioning his teacher, reminded the world warrior of the destruction of the master's dojo. The smile from his face faded."

Ken knew his best friend enough to know what was going through his head. He picked up Ryu's worn-out bag and put his other arm around Ryu's shoulder and started leading him out of the airport. "Hey man, don't worry about it." Ken said smiling. "I already made some arrangements to repair the dojo."  
"What?!"The vagabond looked over to his friend.  
"Don't look so surprised, man! You don't think I'd leave the master's dojo in shambles do you? Consider a birthday gift for you and the master. By the time you get back, nobody will tell the difference. Not like I needed another car anyways."  
"Ken...thank you."

The bond between the two were that of brothers. Both knew each other inside and out. Although Ken did make it a habit to keep changing the tempo and throw Ryu off a bit. If it was one thing the American taught his Japanese friend, it was being unpredictable.  
This was a significant reason why Ken made the perfect rival for Ryu, no matter how many times they fought, American champion would come up with something new, and force his rival to adapt. They were almost evenly matched, but Ryu would somehow have more wins than his friend.

The two made their way to Ken's sports car, which must have cost him at least a million dollars. Upon entering the vehicle, Ryu got a dark feeling. He briefly looked around, but maybe it was only his paranoia of being in a vehicle again. After a moment of hesitation Ryu got into the car, and they both drove off.

* * *

At the Chicago city limits Shadaloo operatives blocked off the roads into the city. They waited for the vehicle of Ken Masters so they could apprehend Ryu. One of the agents lifted a radio to his mouth and spoke into it. "Any sign of the target?" He asked in a soft commanding voice.  
"Yes," One of the subordinates responded. "They just left the airport, sir. I suspect they'll reach your destination in fifteen minutes."  
"Roger, Rattler out."

The commanding officer turned to his men and ready his tranquilizer rifle. "Alright men!" He shouted as his men stood at attention. "When they come by here, we have to down the target fast, don't give him a chance to exit the vehicle. Lord Bison would like to apprehend Ken Masters too if at all possible, but Ryu is our main target."  
"Sir!" They all responded as they lowered their gas masks, load their suppression weapons, and checked their smoke grenades.

They got into their positions. Three of them behind the vehicles blocking the road, and a couple pairs hiding in the foliage one on each side of the road. The soldier of Shadaloo sat in wait for their target. "Red-1 in position" One soldier stated as he carefully poked out from the brush, his rifled trained onto the road.  
"Red-2 in position"  
"Unit-A in position"

There was a pause, on the radio and the commanding officer lifted the radio while looking over to the foliage to the right side of the road. "Blue-1, blue-2, are you in position?" He commanded to know, but the radio stayed silent. "Blue-1, blue-2, respond!"

The men looked back at their commanding officer as he lowered his rifle. He thought as to why they aren't responding, but then a voice could be heard from behind them.

"Oh don't worry about them," A sadistic voice purred. "They're on permanent leave."  
Juri's voice was menacing, and how she managed to sneak up on them was beyond them. But as the officer tried to turn around to shoot her, she knocked the gun out of his hand with a round house kick, sending the gun crashing into the other soldiers face. The malicious fighter followed the roundhouse with a spinning back kick with her other foot and kicked the leader of the group into another soldier. Thrown off balance the soldier that the superior crashed into knocking the aim of the gun towards his associate and shot him by accident, rendering his ally unconscious in a few short seconds.

A shriek of sadistic laughter could be heard as strange purple chi surrounded her and ruthlessly spin around kicking bother her legs out like a pinwheel rendering the staggered soldier unconscious.  
"Two left." She giggled to herself as she casually walked around the vehicle blockade.

The two last soldiers open fire at their attacker, but the tranquilizer rounds would merely bounce off from some strange energy barrier around her. They emptied entire magazines on her, and none of the projectiles cam within two inches of her.  
"Useless..." She said as she sashayed towards them. Suddenly she bursted out with god-like speed. "It's USELESS!"  
The cries of the last two men echoed through the air.

* * *

Ken and Ryu continued to drive down the road reaching the city limits. Then they saw a strange couple of black cars totaled on the side of the road. There was severe damaged as if they were hit by a truck, but on vehicle was on each side of the road. What made it more strange was there wasn't any sign of people either. It was not entirely unheard of people abandoning totalled vehicles outside city limits so they don't have to pay a fee dropping off their old cars to the dump, but these vehicles looked new with the exception to the collision dents and damages.  
"Whao..." Ken said as he slowed the car down as they were assing through. "Those weren't there when I drove my way to pick you up..."

A strange feeling dawned over Ryu, he didn't know what to make of it. A strange energy in the air. Shaking it off, he looked over at best friend. "Lets get going Ken."  
"Yeah..." he nodded and he accelerated the vehicle. "That gives me the creeps though."

You and me both, Ryu thought to himself.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 7: Challenges of Old and New**

At the Masters Estate, all the workers tended to their duties with calm demeanor. The cooks prepared the coming meal, the maid prepared the spare room for the newly arrived guest and the security guards performed their hourly patrols around the perimeter. Nothing disrupted them from their tasks, not even the echoing sound of impact coming from the small dojo statoined next to the Mansion.

"Hwaaaa!" Ken cried out as he launched a kick to Ryu's head. The vagabond barely managed to block it and was about to retaliate with an a low sweep, but the red gi warrior followed through with a hurricane kick, landing three rotating kicks on the right side of Ryu's face. The attack was quick, but it lacked the power in comparison to Ryu's method of the technique.  
Upon Ken's decent from the successful attack, his rival had already recovered and grabbed Masters' gi and performed his Judo throw, slamming Ken on his back against the wooden floor. Ryu paused for a moment as he tried to read into his rival. If the World Warrior Champion knew his friend well enough, Ken would want to come back strong.  
The Japanese warrior was correct, Ken launched himself off the ground performing a flaming Shoryuken, but Ryu had dashed back quick enough to evade the attack. Ken's attack would have devastated should it have connected, but because he missed, he left himself wide open for punishment.

Ryu pull his hands back to his side taking up his famous stance. Blue chi began to quickly develop between his palms; however, right before he release his attack the chi turned into a burning red fire ball. "Shakunetsu!" Thrusting his arms forward, the flaming hadouken surged forward, impacting the descending Ken Masters.

"Uaaaargh!" Ken fell skidding across the dojo floor. The burning attack connected solidly. The American champion looked at his gut where the attack connected but no burning damage had been done to his gi or his body. It was a technique Ryu had mastered on his own. His rival once explained that it took a great deal of effort to control the chi to insure it didn't catch the opponent on fire. This was not so different from Ken's flaming Shoryuken.

"That was fun Ken!" Ryu said excitedly with a wide small on his face. Taking up his stance again. "Ready for round two?"

Ken sneered. "Heh! As if you have to ask!" Flipping back up to his feet with new bruises and sores, the eternal rivals charged at each other once more.

* * *

Outside of the Masters Estates property Juri was watching the fighting of the two fierce warrior's on top of a building across the road. Her S.I.N. binoculars have been getting plenty use these past couple days. Her toes flexing with excitement from watching the match, her tongue traces her lower lip, and her smile maintained.  
These guys are pretty good! She thought to herself. They'd be way more amusing than China-girl. I'd even wager they'd last two minutes longer than her!

But as she watched Ryu fight she started getting a feeling something different about Ryu now than the fights she watched in the videos. There was no question that the World Warrior was stronger now than he was in his previous fights, but something there was no sign of struggle, hesitation, or sign of the Satsui no Hado.  
The dark power that she saw scar Sagat's chest in the video was something she was hoping to see. The small amount of footage of when Ryu fought agent C. Viper was a spectacle to behold. Even in fights where Ryu didn't become possessed by the Sastui no Hado, it was clear he had to hold himself back to contain the dark power within himself.

What she was a pure drive of victory, but without worry of the murderous intent. Yet at the same time he fought with the greatest ferocity. Had he completely mastered the dark hado? Did it leave him entirely? Or was it something else?  
As exciting as the match was to see, she grew concerned if her plans for him would no longer be possible. Her Feng Shui Engine had already proven to be more than powerful enough to take down even the strongest of warriors around the world. She had yet to taste defeat since the late Seth had embedded it into her left eye-socket. But as formidable as it was, it still isn't at its full potential. The eye was meant to completely replicate the Satsui no Hado, but all it does was mimic it by bolstering the user with excessive amount of chi energy.

Hmmm...Juri began to think to herself. If Ryu somehow rid himself of the Satsui no Hado, what good is he to me?! I better get a close look.  
Lowering her binoculars she leaped down from the building deftly. A feeling of excitement crossed the back of her mind, and the sensation got stronger the closer she got to the Masters' Estate.

* * *

Back inside the dojo, both Ryu and Ken began to pant heavily. Sweat drenched their gi, and bumped fists after what proved to be another memorable confrontation where they had demonstrated some new techniques they learned and others they've mastered.

"Wow," Ken sneered. "I never thought the Master taught you the Shin Shoryuken! That was his ace-in-the-hole!"  
"Actually he didn't" Ryu chuckled. "This I had to rediscover myself ever since my last encounter with the Master."  
"You saw Master Gouken again?"

"Yeah, about a week after we found him. He wanted me to try to defeat him at all costs."  
"Wouldn't that provoke the Dark Hado?"

Ryu and Ken sat down on the bench outside, Ken bringing a water bottle he left at the dojo entrance.  
"The Master did awaken the Satsui no Hado within myself." The World Warrior Champion explained to his friend. "I could feel it taking hold of me in my desperation for victory, my desire to not disappoint Master Gouken."  
"Dude! You didn't try to kill the Master did you?!" Ken raised his voice as his brow narrowed into a frown.  
"No. The master stopped it. He performed a technique I had never seen. Before I blacked out, I felt all the evil lose its grip over me; it felt like the darkness washing away from my very soul."

Ken's frown went away, and tossed Ryu the water bottle. "The power of Nothingness..." Ken said softly as he passed it to Ryu. "I remember the master telling me about it once, but I didn't understand it. Too young and dumb I guess."  
"It was the power of nothingness that seemed to have to do something about stoping the Satsui no Hado, and how it no longer threatens to take hold of me any longer." Ryu said after taking a swig from the bottle.

It was then their discussion was interrupted by the voice of a woman. "Excuse me you two." She said sweetly. "Sorry to interrupt, but there a call for you, honey."  
Masters looked to his right to see his beautiful wife. "Hey babe!" Ken smiled as he quickly got up to wrapped his arms around his wife and gave her a passionate kiss. Eliza had been caught off guard from his spontaneous approach, but such surprises from her husband were always enjoyed.  
After their soft lips parted, she went red in the face from embarrassment. "Not in front of guest, sweetie..." She said, trying to hide her blush. "Um...your brother-in-law is on the phone."  
"Guile?" Ken asked. "I wonder what he wants?"

"Go on." Ryu smiled as he rose from the bench stretching his arms behind him. "I'll do a few more exercises in the dojo as I wait."  
Ken looked back and nodded. "Sure thing man." Ken smiled as he swooped his wife in his arms playfully and began to head towards the mansion. "I'll tell him you said hi"

"Ken!" Eliza yelled playfully. "What do you think you're doing?!"

Both their laughs could be heard as they got farther and farther away until they couldn't be heard anymore. It was always good to see Ken and his family blossoming so well. Such warm loving sights from those he cared about always raised Ryu's spirit.

Ken and Eliza entered the mansion and was greeted by the large Hall entrance. The polished marble flooring along with the expensive chandelier that hung over the center of the hall helped reflect and illuminate the large space.

Eliza walked Ken into the study where the phone was on hold. Ken removed his arm from around his wife and picked it up and help it to his ear. "Hello, this is Masters."

"Ken," Guile called. "It's been some time, hasn't it?" The man sounded grim; and if Masters knew his brother-in-law well enough. He's calling on business.  
"Yeah, I must have just missed you in the last tournament. So what can I do for you?"  
"Is Ryu with you?"  
Bingo, Ken thought to himself. Business as usual.  
"Well he's here visiting for a bit, but I don't know for how long. Why?"  
"I have reason to believe Ryu is being followed by Shadaloo. Just the other day, they destroyed the dojo Ryu was at when they tried to apprehend him."  
"Yeah, he told me about it. So you think those bastards are still after him?"  
"I am on my way to you're place now. I should be there in two hours."  
"Okay. I'll let Ryu know you're coming. Is there anything else?"  
"Just be careful Ken."

And with that Guile hung up, and Ken put down the phone. He looked sternly at it for a moment. Memories of Ken's run-ins with Shadaloo activity didn't sit well with him. The American Martial arts champion had a feeling things were going to get serious fast.

"What's wrong, Ken?" Eliza asked. "You looked troubled."  
Ken snapped out of his deep thinking, and looked back at his wife and smiled. "It's nothing." He lied softly. "But Guile is coming over to see us."  
"Is he bringing his family?"

Ken fell silent and lowered his eyes to the floor as he thought of what to say to his wife without scaring her. She is aware of Ken's incidents with Shadaloo, and he didn't want to frighten her. He then raised his gaze back to Eliza and only said. "It's...it's complicated."

* * *

Meanwhile Ryu made his way into the dojo. Upon entering he got this cold chill up his spine upon entering. He felt something, someone, creeping closer and closer. Once he stood in the middle of the dojo, he looked over his shoulder to find a familiar figure standing at the entrance.  
"You...!" He said softly as he turned around. He examined her wearing the same outfit as before, only it was cleaner, and not covered in the smoke from the burning dojo. She stood there with a pleased smile on her face and placed one hand on her hip. Ryu made it a point not to stare at her for too long. "I had my suspicions I'd see you again. Agent Chun li had told me about you."  
The CEO of S.I.N. slowly began to step forward, her hips swaying from side to side. Her smile slightly widening the more the distance between them closed.  
"I only caught some of what you and you B.F.F said." She announced. "So you no longer have that dark power inside you then?"  
Ryu wasn't sure how much she knew about the Satsui no Hado, maybe she already knew the answer to the question.  
"Is that why you've been following me?" He responded. "You want that evil power for yourself, but it's useless. Nobody can control the power of the Satsui no Hadou, the power takes control of you. That mechanical eye is as close as you're ever going to get to it."

Juri tilted her head as she stopped her advance five feet away from Ryu. She didn't expect him to know about her Feng Shui Engine, but it didn't matter to her really. It only took a couple of seconds to deduce how he figured it out. "Aww..." She said coyly as her left eye began to glow a bright purple. "You already know about my little toy. I'm guessing China-girl told you?"  
"She also warned me about you!" He said strongly, standing his ground.  
Juri smiled sensing a bit of nervousness from the display of her eye. Suddenly she closed the distance between the two if them in an instant. Her face was only inches away from Ryu. The World Warrior didn't react, for he sensed no hostility to her abrupt movement. She could smell his sweat from his fights with Ken. It was a familiar sent to her, the smell of battle and hard training. But for the malicious woman, the aroma it lacked the bitterness of blood.

"Why?" She said suggestively. "Afraid I'll bite?"  
Ryu felt her chest gently brush against his and pulled away. He felt a rise inside himself an uncomfortable feeling went over him as she continuously tried to tempt and provoke him. "I don't know what you're up to, or why you helped me before, but I will not be part of your wrongful schemes." The warrior stated. "But if it's a fight you want, you are welcome to it."

Juri saw the champion take up his fighting stance. She tilted her head once again as she examined him with her left eye. His readings were considerably high, higher than all the fighters she's come across. It was even comparable to that of Bison from when she last met her enemy. The CEO of S.I.N. didn't expect the chi energy surrounding him was going to be so abundant.

"Now you're talking, baby!" Juri smiled as she shifted her weight to one leg as she lifted the other. The feeling of excitement from the anticipation that was building inside her for the past couple days finally began to surface. This was the chance for her to let it loose and go wild. And from what she could tell, this guy might be able to handle it for a bit. "I think we both know this is what we REALLY wanted!"

They both stared at one another in silence for a moment. Both warrior's sensing the others chi, examining their postures, trying to see who was going to make the first move. Then, exploding from their still positions, both fighters launched themselves at one another.


	9. Chapter 9

_Authors Note: Some may notice that I've been deleting a lot of guest comments, particularly the ones that are about the Satsui no Hado and have nothing to do with the story or the writing. I am writing this for entertainment purposes only, I do not need people to tell what sources I should use as references. Thank you for reading the story to this point, and I will keep posting more chapters in the future._

**Chapter 8: Fair Warnings**

The two warriors' techniques clashed. Ryu's fierce punch connected with Juri's harsh kick. Their strained limbs tingled from the incredible force they just competed against. Quickly dashing away the pupil of Gouken quickly performed his famous hadouken. With ease, the Korean fighter leaped over the beam and dived down at Ryu with a kick.

The World Warrior Champion wasn't quick enough and the kick connected. Followed up was a second impact of kicks from Juri, then a third powerful thrust kick that sent Ryu crashing into one of the solid oak beams that held the dojo up. Ryu's back was in pain, but he didn't have the time to favour his wound and quickly rolled to the side and got back into his fighting stance.  
"You're speed is impressive..." He complimented in a surprised tone.  
"Nice of you to say," She smiled as she got back into her relaxed flamingo stance. "But haven't seen anything yet."

The pupil of Gouken prepared himself for the next time she went him for an attack. He sensed from her style and attitude that she is an aggressive fighter and wants to get in to do as much damage as possible. Patience was going to be key to winning this fight.

As expected Juri quickly dashed in and we for a low kick for Ryu's legs, hoping of knocking him off balance. The Japanese fighter blocked the attack and managed to protect himself from her pinwheel kick that followed after. The world warrior had never seen such a vicious kick technique before, it even carried the same amount of power as Chun li's kicks if not more-so. His arms started to feel numb from blocking it, but then he saw an opening.

Juri was recovering from her pinwheel kick, but before she could prepare for Ryu's retaliation, the Japanese warrior rocketed from his defensive stance. "Shoryuken!" He roared as his uppercut connected with Juri's jaw. The CEO of S.I.N. was sent flying through the air, a dazed look from the abrupt and fierce move. Catching herself she flipped and landed on the ground in a kneeling position. "Oh...!" She said her head hanging low.

Ryu couldn't see her face, but he sense there was still much fight left in her. Suddenly her head shot up and she gave a menacingly twisted grin to her opponent. "Oh, I like you!" Her left eye began to glow. A high intensity of chi surrounded the woman, far too much spiritual energy for a normal human being could generate.

Bolting from the spot she performed a flurry of lethal kicks at the World Warrior. Barely able of keeping up, he noticed that she finished her flurry of attacks and he saw another opening. In fact, she was laughing at him as she leaned forward and gestured him to bring in, taunting him. Her arrogance will cost her dearly, and Ryu fired off a hadouken.  
At first it seemed like his signature move connected, but suddenly Juri disappeared. At least it would seemed that way, but Ryu barely saw her slip past the attack with devilish speed, and even slipped behind Ryu himself. The projectile attack crashed through the dojo wall leaving a giant hole in it.  
Before the pupil of Gouken could even turn around, Ryu was struck by a powerful pinwheel attack. The flurry of blows struck him over and over launching him into the air crashing back into the ground.

Juri cackled as she saw Ryu quickly get back to his feet. "Hmmm," She said as her tongue traced her soft lips. "You don't break easy, do you?"  
Ryu didn't respond and gathered his thoughts for his next attack. His chin was aching from that last attack, this woman is proving to be a far greater opponent than he had expected. Wiping the bit of blood from his mouth, he quickly corrected his stance.  
Juri began to sashes casually towards Ryu once more. "Good to see you're enjoying this as much as I am" She said in an alluring tone.  
"What makes you say that?" Ryu said as he circled around her to try and keep a comfortable distance for his next attack.  
"Why else are you smiling, huh?"

Ryu stopped for a moment and realized, she was right. He was smiling. His sudden distraction didn't go unnoticed as Juri went in for another attack. She pivoted around and went to hand chop in the head, and struck her opponent in the right temple. Fighting the pain, the vagabond managed to retaliate.  
"Tatsumaki!" He called out as he leaped into the air and kicked Juri away with his famous kick attack.  
The move connected perfectly and sent his opponent crashing into another beam.  
"ugh!" She grunted from the impact, but she caught herself and wiped the spit that barely escaped her mouth.  
The smile still stayed on Juri's face. Even with moderate use of her Feng Shui engine, Ryu was holding his own against her. Nobody but Bison was able to do something like that. All the fights before seemed dull in comparison. This was fun! Ryu's successful strikes against her were few, but devastating. His power, speed and technique were more than the video even seemed to show. Juri's eyes analysis were indicating he had incredibly high readings. Breaking him will be fun.

"Wow..." Shes said softly. "I'd say you just about live up to your legend." The Tae Kwan Do practitioner abandoned her stance and simply stood in front of Ryu. "We'll have to do this again sometime."  
Juri's eye sensed someone else was approaching. It would complicate to draw too much attention to herself. And while she hated to leave fights unfinished, she seemed to have some thoughts stewing in the back of her mind.

The fight was over? Ryu wondered as he noticed she turned away. He too lowered his arms as he stood upright. A feeling of disappointment came over him, he too was feeling the adrenaline that the fight was bringing him.

"Sorry to cut this short, handsome, but there's somewhere I have to be." She said as she peeked over her shoulder back at Ryu. "Just a little advice though. Bison's goons already tried to get you and your friend. Hope you didn't mind my handy work on the highway"

It took the Japanese warrior only a moment to make sense with what she was talking about. Those cars were belonged to Shadaloo and Juri stopped them from trying to get at him and Ken. Once again Ryu was finding himself in her debt.

After a brief silent thought he looked up at Juri, because even though she seemed to be aiding him, something still didn't feel right. "Why are you doing this?" He asked in a calm tone.  
Juri's smiled shrugged her shoulder "Dunno, maybe I'm just bored, maybe because it's fun, ha ha!" She turned away. "Bison won't stop, he'll kill anyone, destroy everything until he gets what he wants. But you can stop him-"

"No." Ryu defied, cutting Juri off in mid-sentence. "I am not getting involved in some war between Shadaloo and S.I.N."

He stared at the back of Juri's head and they both stayed silent for a moment. "Whatever..." She said as he leaped out the open window of the dojo. Not even two seconds later Ken burst through the dojo entrance.

"Ryu!" He called out. The American martial arts champion looked as if he's seen a ghost. His attention was focused on Ryu at first, then it turned to the hole in the dojo wall. "What happened?!"

The Japanese warrior turned to see the hole in the dojo wall and realized that it was when he missed Juri in the fight. The vagabond paused and thought for a moment before he spoke. It would probably be wise not to concern Ken with Juri. At the same time the C.E.O. of S.I.N. raised a valid point; Ken and his family are not safe. Shadaloo could easily resort to hurting his friends to lure Ryu out.

"Ken..." Ryu finally spoke. "I think you and Eliza are in danger."

Ken understood the look on his best friends face. "I think I have an idea." He retorted. "Guile is on his way here. He asked me to keep you here so he can get to you. He said he'd be in a couple hours."

Ryu nodded at Ken, then he turned to face the hole in the wall that he created.

* * *

Back in Mexico in the middle of a barren wasteland, a facility was under siege. S.I.N. soldiers continued to raid the Shadaloo structure and killed all of their operatives as they were ordered to do. The casualties on both sides continued to escalate, but Shadaloo was losing more and more ground to the enemy forces.

In the sky, a large aircraft could be seen descending, on its side bore the Shadaloo symbol. The door opened to reveal the master of Shadaloo himself, M. Bison. He silently gazed on as he watched one of his bases get raided. The sound of gunfire was better heard as the aircraft continued to descend.

The S.I.N. soldiers on the ground took notice of the aerial vehicle, and whom was at standing at the opened door. "Is that who I think it is?!" One of the commanding officers pointed out to his fellow soldiers. "Fire all the RPGs we got at it! Bring it down!"

All the soldiers did as commanded and readied their rockets. If they take out Bison here, then Shadaloo would surely crumble. With this thought in mind they opened fire and let loose the missiles.

Bison frowned at their feeble attempts to pit themselves against something they can't even begin to understand. Diving out off the aircraft, he held his hands in front of him and spun in a drilling motion. "Psycho Crusher!" The psycho power energy and the explosion from all the projectiles lit up the entire area, but the Bison's attack kept following through until he crashed into the earth. The massive impact shook the very ground and covered the entire area in dust.

The soldiers who once attempted to take Bison's life were now dead. All the remaining S.I.N. soldier who weren't raiding the interior of the facility turned their heads at the huge dust cloud the were blowing past them all. They couldn't see what caused the explosion and waited for the dust to settle. A sense of dread befell them all.

"You are all mere insects, waiting to be stepped on by my boot!" A powerful voice stated. "I shall make an example out of you all for your leader, so that she will know that her destruction approaches by my hand!"

As the voice continued to taunt the S.I.N. operatives, a figure shrouded in purple flames could be seen through the dust. Taking advantage at this chance, all the soldiers began to open fire at the target. The echoes of gunfire rang through the air.  
In response Bison laughed as none of the bullets even reached him. The force of energy from his Psycho power stopped the bullets a foot away from him. All the S.I.N. operatives who emptied their magazines on the evil mastermind stood in awe as the dust dispersed and M. Bison stood there unharmed, his psycho aura radiating fiercely.  
The master of Shadaloo began to approach. With each step he took the dread sunk in deeper and deeper into his enemies. "You are all fortunate to bare witness to my heightened Psycho Power." He grinned menacingly. "It is with this power the entire world shall be mine."

He ceased his advanced and he shifted into his fighting stance. The psycho energy began to pulse and the air around him grew heavy. "Prepare to die! Nightmare Booster!"

The master of Shadaloo launched himself towards his targets. All the enemy soldiers stared in horror as their impending doom surged forward.

* * *

Back in Chicago, Guile sped his way from the airport in a military class vehicle. He got his buddies from a nearby base to prepare him with a vehicle when he got into town. He was less than an hour away from city limits, but to the soldier, that was enough time for Shadaloo to try something.

His thoughts were still a little divided between the mission on hand and Chun li who still hasn't regained consciousness. She was also one to bull-rush ahead without calling for backup, and more times than not it got her into trouble.

At the same time the military captain wasn't sure what to make of the goings on at this point. There were a lot of variables that still didn't give the entire picture. Shadaloo and S.I.N were against one another, and now Shadaloo is trying to get a hold of Ryu.

Suddenly Guile's phone went off. Taking a quick glance at the phone he pushed the speaker button. "This is Guile," He greeted.  
"Are you with Ryu yet?" Cammy asked.  
"Negative, I am short of an hour away from Chicago now. It shouldn't be long now. Have you been able to use your satellites to keep an eye on the Master's estate?"  
"No, I've been given a temporary leave. Apparently I've been rattling the cages too hard in my jurisdiction. There was a lot of activity happening around Mexico, but that was when I was pulled from active duty."  
"Well it was only a matter of time. S.I.N. and Shadaloo are master manipulators of authority."  
"Yes, which means now we're traveling blind. Because of this, I will see what I can do on my end. But you must get to Ryu, if he leaves America and gets out of your reach, who knows where he'll go to next."

Guile then noticed a bunch of wrecked vehicles from the side of the road being hauled away. Looked like the remnants of an accident, but they didn't look like civilians to the military officers' trained eyes. An unsettling feeling came over him suddenly.  
"Something the matter?" Cammy asked.  
"It's nothing." He responded. "I just have a bad feeling about this."

Unfortunately for the Captain, he didn't get far before he saw a roadblock of other vehicles. These vehicles were different, but they had the S.I.N. symbol on the side. It was clear to Guile now that Shadaloo was definitely not the only ones involved in this, and that Cammy's suspicions were correct.  
"S.I.N..." Guile muttered. He saw the men stepping out of their vehicles and cocking their handguns. "Cammy, I'll have to call you back."

Guile wasted no time and immediately hit the accelerator. The agents didn't suspect such rash action coming from the military officer. Opening a few rounds on the speeding vehicle, they realized they didn't have enough time to line up a proper shot. They barely dodged out of the way when Guile crashed through the blockade of cars, and continued to speed down the highway.

Looking up at his rear view mirror he could see the agents scrambling to their feet. Guile was almost at the city limits. What worried Guile was if S.I.N. was already here trying to stop him, then Ken and Ryu must be in even more danger.

It was then he saw a figure in the distance, walking down the middle of the road. The captain squinted to see what it was as he continued to speed closer and closer to it. It didn't take long before he could make out the identity of the person. It was Juri.

Guile felt a cold chill down his spine, he recalled his last encounter with her. But he had to keep the mission in mind. None of this will mean anything if S.I.N. or Shadaloo get a hold of Ryu for whatever nefarious schemes. With no interested in attempting to fight her, he decided to speed through her like he did with the agents moments before.

He drew closer quickly, and he saw her left eye begin to glow, the her whole body began to emanate a pink chi energy. Having a bad sense of deja-vu, he gritted his teeth as he tried to ram through her. But in an instant, the lethal fighter crashed her leg down on the front of the car with such force the vehicle flipped right over Juri and crashed on the road behind her, upside down. The vehicle screeched a fair ways down the road before it came to a stop.

"Looks like I made it just in time!" She smiled casually.

She could see the cars of her agents driving towards her in the distance from the same direction Guile came from. Pulling out her cell phone she spoke into it. "I got it boys." She said. "Beat it!"  
With just that, all the agents did a U-turn and drove away. She looked back over at the crashed vehicle and could hear stirring inside. Juri smiled in anticipation for the fun to come.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 9: Closing in**

Spinning, the world was spinning, and he was only getting dizzier being upside down. Gathering himself the best he could Guile managed to unbuckle his seat belt. His head was aching from the impact, but he had to get himself out of the trashed vehicle. Smashing out the window with a quick elbow, the soldier managed to scurry out from the wrecked car.

"Well well," a familiar, sly voice said. "Looks like the soldier boy came to play too, ha! ha!"

Guile gritted his teeth at the sound of her voice, and he quickly got the nerves to get to his feet and face her in the middle of the highway. His eyes burned with anger as thoughts of his previous encounter took shape in his memory.  
Wait...he thought to himself. "It was you who hurt Chun li!"

Juri's eye lit up and her grin grew twice as wide. "Hah! You got that right! That girl just can't take a hint! ha! ha! ha!"  
Her laughter at his injured comrade infuriated Guile and he charged forward. Propelling himself forward, the captain thrust his knee forward to his opponents chest. Juri's wouldn't let her cockiness get the best of her like her last encounter with Guile and was prepared. Before the move could connect she slipped past him with lightning speed and got in her fighting stance.  
"You know this is pointless, right?" She smiled as she stood in her flamingo stance relaxed. "Why don't you just go home, or else I'll REALLY make it hurt, heh"

The military officer stood in his fighting raring to give it his all. "What do you want with Ryu?" Guile asked.  
Juri tilted her head slightly. "Why should I tell you anything?"  
"Fine! I'm get an answer out of you one way or another!"

Guile flexed his arms outward and swung them inward unleashing powerful Ki energy "Sonic Boom!"  
The yellow flash of energy shot forward fiercely. Before the projectile could reach Juri, she swatted the ki energy away with a kick. After neutralizing the attack she hopped in the air in a spinning motion. Channeling her chi into her leg she kicked hard as she unleashed the energy from her limb launching her spiritual energy that surged towards her opponent in retaliation.

The captain of the American air force barely managed to block the attack on time and his arms started to tingle from taking on the attack. He began his approach on her and tried to stay low. Guile was more of a ground fighter and did his best when on the defensive. Unfortunately time was of the essence and he couldn't afford to waste time with Juri. He kicked low hastily then followed through with a spinning back fist. Juri blocked the low kick with ease, and ducked lower into almost a spider-like stance when she evaded the spinning backfist. Before Guile could finished pivoting Juri unleashed a low chop at his kidneys, and followed through with a fierce pinwheel kick.

Guile was sent flying into the air from the multiple kicks that connected to his jaw. His brain was rattling and didn't get better upon impacting the ground. It was clear the car crashing still had him shaken a bit, and it was becoming clear that should this continue he might not be able to hold up well against such a dangerous opponent.

"Aww..." Juri said leaning forward to the downed Guile. "You're not even half as into it as you were before. Don't tell me the little car accident got you all dizzy. Serves you right for trying to run me over instead of a straight up fight you bastard!"

The American wasn't even paying attention to her taunts, and tried to focus on getting to his feet again. He thought of his lovely wife and his beautiful daughter back home waiting for him. That alone gave him the strength he needed and he got back to his feet. "Sonic Boom!"  
"Again...?" Juri said in an annoyed tone as she leaped over the attack. She then sought to punish Guile for disappointing her. She dove speedily towards the soldier, but then the unexpected happened.  
"Flash Kick!"  
Guile sprung up from his low stance and delivered a solid somersault kick to her chin. The pain coursed through Juri's face; from the pain followed anger. Managing to catch herself she landed flat on her feet hunched over her arms hanging from her shoulder.  
"Well now..." She muttered. "Look who suddenly felt like playing!"  
Her Feng Shui engine began to glow in her left eye socked. The chi energy began to emanate around her rapidly. The air grew dense and dread descended upon Guile.

In an instant she was in front of him, on 2 feet away. The American reacted by throwing a mean right hook, but before he could extend his arm, Juri planted a solid elbow into his gut, followed my a shin strike to his thigh, and a knife hand chop to his face. Her assault continued as she leaped backwards, then dove at him with a kick, followed by a second impact, and a third strike with a pivoting thrust kick in midair.  
The final blow was bolstered with an surmountable amount of chi energy and the solder was sent skidding across the road.

Once Guile came to a stop, he attempted to lift himself off the ground. The pain surged through his road-skid shoulders, his chest ached when he breathed, and his vision was going dark. The soldiers arms gave out ans he collapsed back onto the asphalt.

Juri shrugged seeing that fight was clearly over and it was time to finish the job. The C.E.O. of S.I.N. would make damn sure that this meddlesome symbol of authority wouldn't interfere with her plans again. She casually made her approach towards the soldier, considering if she should cause more pain on him before she ends Guile's life. Little did she know the decision would be made for her as she heard a strange humming sound in the distance.

The taekwando practitioner stopped in her tracks and looked in the direction the noise was coming from. There in the sky she could see a distant helicopter. It was traveling in her direction with haste and it didn't seem like a standardized aircraft. She waited for it to come closer so she could get a better look, and it was then she saw the symbol on the side of it. Shadaloo...

Juri's eyes went wide when she realized something. "Ryu...! Dammit!"

* * *

Ryu meditated silently by the oak tree located in front of Ken's mansion on the massive front lawn. His thoughts reminiscing about all that was happening around him. The pursuit of Shadaloo, the danger his friends could be in, and that powerful woman who seems to be stalking him wherever he goes.

Thinking back on his fight with her in Ken's dojo, he could tell she wasn't fighting to her fullest potential her all. Her techniques were vicious, but half-hearted. She wasn't striving for the victory as Ryu was. Could the artificial eye truly be a replica of the dark power that once haunted me? Ryu wondered. It's power was unquestionable.  
Thinking deeper of the fight he had with Juri, he began to see something he believed to be the drive backing her fighting spirit. It was something he was familiar with; vengeance. Known sensations surfaced to his thoughts. The desire to seek retribution against Akuma for believing him to have killed his Master, Gouken. Perhaps Juri lost someone close to her to fill her with so much malice?

Chun li is not so different in that respect. She lost her father and devoted all her efforts to getting revenge after Bison killed her father. But Juri actually has the power and capacity to accomplish her vengeance with that eye of her. If that strange eye it's anything like the dark hadou, it's power will be so seductive that it could easily consume her.

Ryu himself knew the path of vengeance all too well, it almost lead him to his own destruction. Were it not for the guidance of Master Gouken the world warrior would have fallen to the same fate as Akuma. Perhaps he can stop Juri from treading down that road, perhaps he could guide her away from her destructive ways or perhaps she is too far gone. The Japanese warrior knew it would only be a matter of time before Juri crosses his path again.

Suddenly Ken broke Ryu away from his thoughts with an outburst. "Dammit...!" Ken said. "Guile won't answer his cell phone. I am starting to worry, man. He should be been here by now."  
Ken had been leaning against the tree Ryu was meditating under, waiting to hear from his brother-in-law.  
Ryu opened his eyes and looked down at the grass of Ken's enormous lawn. He remained silent for a moment. "We must stay calm and not jump to conclusions." He spoke calmly to his concerned friend.

Masters glanced down at his cel phone, then back at Ryu. "Yeah," He sighed as he tucked his phone away in his jean pocket. "You're right."  
Getting to his feet Ryu turned to face Ken.

"Once Guile gets here, what will you do then?" The Japanese warrior asked his friend.

"I'm getting Eliza and Mel the hell outta here. I'll probably take them somewhere safe and take a big family vacation somewhere safe from Shadaloo; at least until things settle down. My father showed me some sweet tropical spots when you just want to disappear from the world."  
"That's a good idea."

"What about you?" Eliza asked as she approached the two with the baby in her arms. She was wearing a beautiful soft pink summer dress. Her hair done in a way that made her look nothing less than a celebrity. "What are you going to do Ryu?"  
"I will continue my journey and walk the path of self improvement. I have yet to become a true warrior. I've been thinking of passing through Mexico, I know a couple really strong fighters there." He explained.  
"That's pretty typical of you buddy." Ken sneered as he playfully punched Ryu in the arm.

It was then the three people heard the sound of a large hovering aircraft in the distance. They looked up to the sky and a helicopter flying in their directions. Ken and Ryu felt something was wrong, and they both stepped in front of the mother and child.  
"Eliza," Ken addressed. "Go back inside. If trouble starts, hide in the secret room."  
"Okay," She said, having an idea of the situation. "Stay safe, and give them hell!"  
Ken looked back over his shoulder with a confident sneer. "You got it babe!"

With that Eliza quickly made her way to the Masters' Estate. By the time she past the doors, the chopper was hovering in front of Ryu and Ken and a few cords dropped down from the large aircraft. Men began sliding down the cables with the exception of one.  
Balrog leaped down and swung off the cable and landed in front of both pupils of Gouken. "Boo!" Balrog grinned with five Shadaloo soldiers behind him armed with assault rifles. Ken and Ryu were not intimidated, they have fought men with guns before, and Ryu had already defeated Balrog a short while ago.

"Alright Ryu, you're coming with me!" The monstrous black boxer demanded.

Ryu's eyes shifted to his best friend's direction briefly, and Ken nodded. "So be it..." The world warrior spoke sternly as he stepped forward. "We Fight!"  
The world warriors rash action caught Shadaloo agents off guard when he suddenly grabbed balrog and pulled him in the soldiers line of fire. They couldn't shoot without risking hitting their superior.  
"Now ken!"

"Alright!" Masters grinned and he whirled past them with a powerful Hurricane kick knocked all the soldiers away. Upon landing Master's acted fast and fired off a hadouken at another soldier. A soldier barely managed to get to his feet, but before he could open fire, Ken landed a crippling punch to his gut, grabbed him and threw him into another soldier who tried to reach for his weapon.

As Ken was dealing with the Shadaloo soldiers, Ryu and Balrog were still struggling with one another. "Get off me wimp!" Balrog roared as he smashed his head into Ryu's chin. The Japanese warrior's grip loosened and the American boxer landed a heavy low hook to Ryu's kidney. "I'm gonna crush you to tiny pieces!"

Ryu's sides ached but he managed to force himself into his fighting stance and prepare for the assault from Balrog.  
A barrage of punches came forced Ryu to maintain his defensive stance. Without Vega around, Balrog didn't have to worry about coordinating his attacks with the sadistic ninja. But Ryu knew that this boxer was tough and stubborn; too stubborn to adapt and change his tactics to better fight against the pupil of Gouken.  
Waiting patiently and avoiding the vicious punches as much as he could, Ryu waiting for an opening. And sure enough, it came. Upon charging forward, with acted fast and delivered a powerful uppercut to Balrog's chin. "Shoryuken!" Both Ryu and Balrog soared into the air, but only one landed gracefully.

A loud thud was heard when the heavy boxer hit the ground. Giving his head a shake the Shadaloo warrior looked up at his opponent was still standing strong. Shifting a glance to the left he saw the soldiers getting pummeled by Ken.

"Leave now!" Ryu told him. "You cannot defeat me."

Balrog smiled a toothy grin as he remained low to the ground. "I'm not done here, but you are! Shoot him!"

The world warrior noticed the boxer was looking past him at one of his soldiers who was pointing his assault rifle straight at Ryu. He must have managed to slip past Ken with all that was going on his aim was dead-set on the center warrior's back. Time suddenly stopped for Ryu. There was shock, panic, fear all these feeling rushing through him. His years of training and traveling around the world came rushing through his mind. People he's met, journeys he's taken then...there was nothing.


End file.
